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When the bell rings at 3:45 every day, it’s a time for many students to head home and finally relax from a long day spent in the classroom. For members of the Battlin’ Bear Band, it’s a time to practice and perfect this season’s show, “Rite of Spring.” This Saturday, the band will have a practice run-through of the show, which will be judged by a former DCI member and assistant band director for Lamar University. The practice will be an open show, for those who would like to watch.

The Region Marching Contest will be held on Saturday, Oct. 18 at PNG and the band has been practicing every afternoon since this summer, usually until 6 p.m. to prepare for the tough competition.

“For the past three years, we have said ‘This is the hardest show we’ve ever done,’” LCM Head Band Director Steve Schoppert said. “This year is no different. But we may have met our match this time.”

The band’s goal for this year is to make it to San Antonio for the State Marching Contest and to hopefully perform twice. According to Schoppert, “Rite of Spring” is filled with exciting, educational music that has a ton of visual possibilities.

“The only drawback is the difficulty,” Schoppert said. “It is exactly what the state judges are looking for.”

Schoppert has been teaching, in some capacity, for almost 30 years, but has only had the “band director” title for 13.

“This is the first band I’ve ever had that is not ashamed to tell each other that they love each other,” Schoppert said. “They have disagreements but in general, they want to be here and don’t complain.”